


So Baby Just Hold Me

by TheBlackWook



Category: Football RPF
Genre: Comfort, Fluff, Gift Fic, M/M, Nightmares, Post-2014 World Cup, Riccardo is still injured
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-11
Updated: 2018-09-11
Packaged: 2019-07-11 01:50:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15962132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBlackWook/pseuds/TheBlackWook
Summary: No.It’s not so much the pain but the nightmares and the panic it gives him. But during those times, he has Giorgio.





	So Baby Just Hold Me

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LeapAngstily](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeapAngstily/gifts).



> A big thank you to LeapAngstily whose fics are A+ amazing and inspired me to write this one. Go read these stories they are wonderful !!!

It’s not so much the pain that keeps him from sleeping these days. Of course it’s still there but, finally, after months of cursing and hurting and physiotherapy, he’s getting there, step by step. More than once, he had wanted to throw a punch in a wall, scream his frustration out. And he knows he is not out of the woods yet, doctors have been very clear about that. 

No.

It’s not so much the pain but the nightmares and the panic it gives him. He can still see the intercepted pass, him running to take the ball back and then contact.

Pain. Dreams shattered.

Some nights, he just relives it, still see the face of the Irish player but can’t remember his name. The pain, however… When he wakes, he swears he can feel something in his shin, touches it just to be sure. Most nights, though, he doesn’t relive it. No. Most nights he dreams he’s getting worse despite all the good work he has put so far, he dreams doctors tell him he has to choose between his leg or playing football, he dreams he will never get past the injury. It fills him with dread and cold sweat when he wakes, his breathing uneven from the anxiety. He usually can’t go back to sleep after that, only passing out of exhaustion just before sunrise. He always tries to be rational and to think positively – doctors said it was a good way to help him recover. But there are times he simply cannot, it is too much to bear.

And during those times, he has Giorgio. 

Riccardo doesn’t really know how but the defender has become a constant in his life ever since that fateful night, visiting him every week, more than once in a week even ; so much that Riccardo basically gave him a key to his apartment and he simply did not bat an eye anymore when he would find Giorgio there, doing laundry, cleaning, whenever the midfielder would come back from his re-education sessions. It had just become normalcy for him now, and he didn’t want to imagine bearing it all without him. From simply helping him out, his visits had grown longer and longer until he stayed the night once. It had been late, he was tired and it really was a long ride to Turin at this hour. Giorgio had passed out on the couch as they were watching some reality TV show they did not even care about. Riccardo simply had put a blanket over him before limping to his bed, Giorgio’s peaceful sleeping face a sight for sore eyes.

_(Giorgio would blame himself in the morning for not being there to help him go to bed but a smile from Riccardo with morning hair and a twinkle in his eyes and all would be long forgotten.)_

He doesn’t really know what time it is when he starts in his bed, eyes wide and breathing loudly. He doesn’t even remember what it was this time, he only remember the despair it had given him and the pain he had felt. 

He ghost a hand on his shin. Not painless but just as it had felt yesterday, nothing out of the ordinary. 

And yet, the feelings do not leave him, he is frozen, scared like a child who is afraid of the dark. He can’t do anything and he knows even exhaustion will not let him sleep in the early hours of the day. So he does the only thing he knows will be able to help him. He goes to the living room, walking almost normally if not for the soreness of his limbs. There, he finds Giorgio and touches his shoulder lightly.

It has become a habit of the defender to spend the night here and claim the couch as his. Riccardo doesn’t know how he can manage football and coming here so often for him. When he sees the bags under his eyes, he always feel guilty. He would like nothing more to be able to do everything on his own and to be fully healed. But always, Giorgio offers him a gentle smile and brushes his concerns off. Riccardo can’t help but to mirror his smile and blush slightly, eyes studying the wooden floor with sudden fascination.

_(There are times when he would like Giorgio to be there every day, at every hour of the day. But there is no way in hell he is going to say that out loud. And he is not even sure he can even admit it himself. Baby steps, as the doctors said.)_

When Giorgio wakes and sees Riccardo, he tenses, afraid his injury is getting worse again. He looks him in the eye and sees the anxiety he has badly hidden there. 

“The nightmares again ?” He asks softly, his voice hoarse from sleeping.

Riccardo simply nods, not trusting himself. Giorgio offers him a tender smile and it already helps him calm down. The defender stands and takes a hold of the midfielder’s waist to help him walk. There is nothing more to be said when they reach the bedroom. It has become a habit – Riccardo has lost count of all the new habits he has developed with Giorgio and honestly, he may not be ready to realize how many there are or how much they mean to him, now.

They lay on the bed and Giorgio wraps an arm around his back, bringing him to him, while the other comes resting against the small of his back. Riccardo nestles on his shoulder, breathing in discreetly. The scent is light and flowery, that of the softener he uses for laundry, and there is this indescribable scent that this undeniably... _Him_.

“Everything’s gonna be fine. Sleep, now.” He whispers gently.

He draws light circles on his back and it lulls Riccardo. 

And if Giorgio kisses the top of his head, he lets him.


End file.
